American man pays $3000 tax with pennies

‘IF THEY were going to inconvenience me then I was going to inconvenience them,’ said Nick Stafford.

Nick Stafford waiting for a government clerk to call his number. Picture: David Criggeru/AP

THE last time the government mucked you around, you probably said a few choice expletives, rang them back and stayed on hold, because what else can you do?

Well, this man gave the government his two cents — and 299,998 more.

Nick Stafford, who lives in Virginia, had a simple question about the address he should use when registering a car for his son. He tried to call the local office, but his call was diverted to a call centre somewhere else.

He found it impossible to get through, so he submitted a freedom of information request for the direct phone number, but even that didn’t help. After repeated calls, they finally answered his question, but by then he was seriously irate.

“If they were going to inconvenience me then I was going to inconvenience them,” he told Virginia’s Herald Courier.

Nick Stafford rolls in the first of five wheelbarrows full of change. Picture: David Criggeru

The 300,000 pennies weighed 725 kilograms and took four hours to move. Picture: David Criggeru

When time came to pay sales sax on two new cars, he took action.

Mr Stafford went to the bank and got rolls and rolls and rolls of pennies.

He bought five new wheelbarrows, and hired 11 people for four hours to help move 725 kilograms of coins to the desk of the local Department of Motor Vehicles.

The fine was US$3000 (A$4000).

However, by the time he added $440 in wages, $400 for wheelbarrows — which he left full of coins in the foyer of the office - and $165 in court fees, he ended up spending US$1005 (A$1340) just for the satisfaction of showing the government who they really work for.

It’s pretty inconvenient, but Stafford said it was his right as by law all American coins and notes are legal tender within the United States.

This week, a judge dismissed his lawsuit, but he wasn’t fussed.

“I told the judge, ‘I think I proved my point here’,” Mr Stafford said proudly.